Work on the Riyadh Metro is in its advanced stages, with intensive work continuing at 89 sites throughout the city of Riyadh, and the Governor of the Riyadh Region, Faisal bin Bandar—Chairman of the High Commission for the Development of Riyadh and Chairman of the Committee Overseeing the Implementation of the King Abdulaziz Public Transportation Project —the train and bus systems—the giant tunnel-boring machine "Zafra" for the Riyadh Metro , which operates at a depth of 30 meters.
The giant machine "Zafra"
The Riyadh Development Authority was keen to document the start of operations for the first of the giant tunnel boring machines in the (Riyadh Metro), which is part of the King Abdulaziz Public Transportation Project—trains and buses.
The Governor of Riyadh, Faisal bin Bandar, recently launched the first of these giant tunnel-boring machines as part of the project at the machine’s starting point on the Green Line (King Abdulaziz Road axis), where His Highness pressed the control button to start the giant machine, which began its work underground at a depth of up to 30 meters.
Work is accelerating
The pace of work on the "Riyadh Metro" project has accelerated to ensure its completion on schedule, thereby helping to alleviate traffic congestion on the capital’s main roads.
Work is currently underway on the project’s foundations, pillars, and bridges west of Princess Noura bint Abdulrahman University, located along the project’s fourth route.
Reinforcement and concrete pouring work is also continuing for the station and track near Terminal 5 at King Khalid International Airport, both of which are also located within the fourth (yellow) route, which has a total length of 29.6 kilometers.
National Talent
The Governor of Riyadh honored the winners of the "What Shall We Call It?" contest to name the tunnel boring machines and chaired the 14th periodic meeting to monitor the project’s progress.
His Highness said, "Praise be to God, the project is not facing any obstacles and is proceeding according to schedule, praising the Saudi engineers working on the project, who have demonstrated their capabilities and high level of skill and gained further experience.
More than 98 sites
His Excellency Engineer Ibrahim Al-Sultan, member of the High Commission for the Development of Riyadh and Head of the Commission’s Projects and Planning Center, explained, that work is currently underway as part of the project at more than 89 sites along the six train network routes throughout the city.
He noted that among the most prominent sites currently under construction as part of the project are: Al-Olaya Station, Qasr Al-Hukm Station, King Abdullah Financial District Station, the station adjacent to the Dammam–Riyadh railway line, Terminal 5 Station on Line 4 at King Khalid International Airport, the Control and Operations Center building, and the lodging and maintenance centers, in addition to work at numerous sites to prepare the train tracks, construct bridge piers, reroute utilities, and install electrical power systems.
Work is also currently underway to reroute utilities within the station sites along the King Abdulaziz Road corridor, as well as continuous excavation in the tunnel located along the King Abdullah Road corridor, where the horizontal excavation distance in the tunnel along the route has reached approximately 700 meters in both the eastern and western directions.
Manufacturing of 074 train cars has begun
Regarding train car manufacturing, production has begun on 470 train cars as part of the project at the factories of Siemens, Bombardier, and Alstom.
As part of the bus transit network project, work continues on road modifications for the first phase of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) routes in southern Riyadh, on the following roads: Hamza bin Abdulmuttalib, Dirab, Prince Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, and Al-Kharj.
Infrastructure Contracts
The awarding of infrastructure contracts for the Riyadh Bus Project has been approved, which includes: road modifications for the dedicated-lane bus network, the construction of bus stops, and public parking lots as part of the project, which is being implemented in three phases:
Phase 1, covers the area south of Makkah Road, with a total length of bus lanes amounting to 145 kilometers.
Phase Two, which covers the area from north of Makkah Road to south of Imam Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Muhammad Road, with a total length of bus lanes of 127 kilometers.
Phase Three, covering the area from north of Imam Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Mohammed Road to south of King Salman Road, with a total length of bus routes amounting to 175 kilometers.
Metro routes
The six metro lines are distributed as follows:
Line 1 (Blue Line): Al-Olaya – Al-Batha – Al-Hayir, with a length of 38 kilometers.
Line 2 (Red Line): King Abdullah Road, 25.3 kilometers long.
The third route (orange line) is the Medina Road axis.
Prince Saad bin Abdulrahman I Road, 40.7 kilometers long.
Route 4 (yellow line): King Khalid International Airport Road, 29.6 kilometers long.
Route 5 (Green Line): King Abdulaziz Road, 12.9 kilometers long.
Route 6 (magenta line): The Abdulrahman bin Auf Road–Sheikh Hassan bin Hussein bin Ali Road corridor, 30 kilometers long.
